Future of Democracy in Asia
A comparison of the state of democracy in the Philippines, South Korea and Taiwan
Joana Gayeta -YY12
Democracy as we define it, is a form of government were the people have the authority to choose their governing legislation. It also contributes to human development since it lets people have equal rights by giving them the opportunity to select the leaders that they think can make their country a better place. Given this definition, we will now look at the state of democracy and development in the following Asian countries: Philippines, South Korea and Taiwan.
Using the five V-dem indices, we compared the state of democracy of the two most successful third-wave democratic countries in Asia, South Korea and Taiwan, to our very own country, Philippines.
Deliberative Democracy Index
The Deliberative Democracy as the name suggests it, pertains to the form of democracy in which deliberation is central to decision-making. It adopts elements of both consensus decision-making and majority rule. So interpreting the graph above, we can see that among the three countries, the deliberative democracy index of the Philippines is a little bit stable than the other countries. But it is also noticeable how the order of the indexes of 3 countries changed, were Philippines started at the top in 1986 followed by South Korea then Taiwan and when 2018 came, South Korea is now at the top followed by Taiwan then Philippines. We can also observe that the index of Taiwan is increasing as the years go by with only minimal decrease from time to time.
Egalitarian Democracy Index
As for the Egalitarian Democracy, it focuses on the idea that all humans are equal in fundamental worth or moral status. We can see above that the Egalitarian aspect of South Korea started to increase but experienced a sudden decrease in the year 2006–2008 while Taiwan continues to increase from the start. As for the Philippines, we can observe that it increased a little bit in the year 1988 but as the years goes by there are only minimal changes.
Electoral Democracy Index
The Electoral Democracy pertains to the type of representative democracy based on election and on electoral votes. In addition this index shows the capabilities of a certain country to conduct a fair election amongst its people. As the graph shows us, the index of the 3 countries starts to rise from the year 1986–1988, but even though all 3 countries rise we can see that Philippines is lagging behind. Furthermore the electoral democracy index of Philippines has been shaky for several years now.
Liberal Democracy Index
Liberal Democracy on the other hand, can be defined as a system of government in which people consent to their rulers, and rulers, in turn, are constitutionally constrained to respect individual rights. With this, we can see in the graph that the Liberal index of South Korea and Philippines has a big increase in the year 1988, and although Taiwan has only a small increase we can clearly see that in the succeeding years it is constantly increasing unlike the Philippines whose index started to decrease gradually.
Participatory Democracy Index
Participatory Democracy or also known as participative democracy emphasizes the broad participation of constituents in the direction and operation of political systems, meaning it is how much power the citizen has over the political decision of a certain country. Once again we can see how the Philippines have the first spot in the beginning of year 1986 but as the years pass by Taiwan started to take over an Philippines is now at the bottom. This only means that the country of Taiwan is prioritizing the opinion of its citizens unlike the Philippines whose index only rise during the year 1988. As for South Korea, we can say that its government is doing its best with the increase of their index from time to time.
The Future of Democracy in Asia
After comparing the state of democracy in three countries in Asia using the 5 categories above, we can say that the future of democracy in Asia is a little bit shaky but this doesn’t mean that there is no hope. The new generation — the Asia’s millennials will hold the key to the region’s democratic future. This is because they value the outcomes of political systems more than their underlying normative principles. In addition, they are also more inclined to conceive of democracy in terms of good governance and social equity than electoral accountability, political competition or liberty.
Resources:
Chu, Y. (2016). How Do the Millennials See It? The Future of Democracy, Legitimacy and Governance in Asia. Retrieved from https://www.globalasia.org/v11no3/cover/how-do-the-millennials-see-it-the-future-of-democracy-legitimacy-and-governance-in-asia_yun-han-chu
Council of Europe. (n.d). Democracy. Retrieved from https://www.coe.int/en/web/compass/democracy
MacKuen, M. & Rabinowitz, G. (2003). Electoral Democracy. Retrieved from https://www.press.umich.edu/11988/electoral_democracy/?s=look_inside
